Favorite Schools

Favorite Teams

A baby when his father died, son honors fallen police officer 67 years later

jamarcz family.JPG

On Tuesday, Department of Public Works workers, a Syracuse police officer and John and his wife Jodi gathered on an overcast, rainy day, to post the first two of 11 markers that will go up around Syracuse to honor fallen officers.
(Julie McMahon | jmcmahon@syracuse.com)

Syracuse, N.Y. -- John Jarmacz was 8 months old when his father, a police officer, was killed in the line of duty. He and his wife watched as a sign went up 67 years later where his father died.

His father, also John Jarmacz, died in 1947 when he fell from a moving police wagon as he struggled with a suspect.

Legend surrounding his death went that he was filling in for an officer whose wife went into labor that day.

Department of Public Works employees, a Syracuse police officer and John and his wife Jodi gathered on an overcast, rainy day, to post the first two of 11 markers that will go up around Syracuse to honor fallen officers.

The Syracuse Police Department, the Police Benevolent Association and Rochester-based Badge of Honor Association are erecting signs around the city to honor them.

Another officer later apprehended the suspect who Jarmacz's father died trying to detain. That officer was a close family friend of Jodi's.

The Jarmaczs, of Minoa, were inspired by the fallen officer to stay involved in public service, the couple said.

Jarmacz, 67, is a long-time firefighter and former chief of the Minoa Volunteer Fire Department. Two of Jamarcz's nephews are Syracuse police officers, and other family members have served with the state police.

The deceased Jarmacz was killed on a section of East Genesee Street. His sign went up near City Hall, on the corner of Montgomery and East Washington Streets.

Jarmacz's sign was posted adjacent to the marker for Patrolman Pierson C. Near, who was also killed in the line of duty within the former 300 block of East Genesee Street, which has since been torn up and turned into a cluster of high-rise buildings.